Franken must resign despite late support
Cut the hypocrisy, oust predator
U.S. Sen. Al Franken is a political liability for the Democratic Party and should follow through on his promise and resign.
After eight women accused him of sexual misconduct, the Minnesota lawmaker caved to pressure and promised to resign, but gave no date.
That date should be today. At least four Democrats are now urging him to reverse his decision and stay in the U.S. Senate. Please don’t!
“What they did to Al was atrocious, the Democrats,” said U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). “Here’s a man, that all he said (was), ‘Take me through the Ethics Committee. I will live by whatever decision and I will walk away thinking about this opportunity I’ve had while I was here. But you find out if I’m a predator.’ ”
Democrats denied that request and, at the time, many demanded he resign immediately. If Franken was truly not guilty of being too handsy with women during photo ops, he should have ignored those calls to leave his post.
The power-hungry politician knew it was time to say sayonara before he further hurt his party. Changing course now with Democratic support from Manchin and others would amount to political suicide for liberals. Yet the West Virginia lawmaker blames his colleagues for their fast action and not Franken for his behavior.
“The most hypocritical thing I’ve ever seen done to a human being — and then have enough guts to sit on the floor, watch him give his speech and go over and hug him? That’s hypocrisy at the highest level I’ve ever seen in my life. Made me sick,” Manchin said.
It is not hypocrisy to ask a co-worker to quit if it is believed that he has not behaved appropriately. You can still care about that person even if they made a terrible mistake. Giving someone a hug who messed up is not hypocritical.
What is hypocritical is claiming to be the party of women and then allowing predators to remain a part of the institution.
If the photo of Franken groping a woman while asleep didn’t exist, politicians might have been willing to believe he was not capable of such piggish behavior.
But it does.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then two of them should be — get out!